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What a terrible idea for monetization. The entire point of the blue checkmark was "this account with a high-profile person's/company's name is actually who the

What a terrible idea for monetization. The entire point of the blue checkmark was "this account with a high-profile person's/company's name is actually who they say they are". Turning it into "everyone gets a checkmark that wants one" has destroyed the value of the checkmark. It is, at best, a suckers badge at this point.

birdyrooster 4y ago
My understanding is Elon never cared about the institution of a blue check mark and is taking them for a nice infusion of cash with the intention of phasing it out.
- hgsgm 4y ago
  If he's that desperate for money why would he phase it out?
  - birdyrooster 4y ago
    This over-exploitation is a clear fulcrum for the failure of the platform and could undermine a future payday.
  - Pxtl 4y ago
    This is enshittification - pillage the brand for short-term gain, long-term loss, thinking that something is worth more dead than alive. Either Musk is trying to pillage the bluecheck system (he thinks its' worthless and wants to extract some value before he kills it), or Twitter itself (get some short-term revenue from blue-check-chuds so he can make the site look slightly more profitable so he can sell it off).
- rchaud 4y ago
  But at $8/mo? Celebrities and influencers can afford way more than that. $8/mo is the price range that attracts scammers and hustlers that care about showing up in the first 5 replies of a major tweet so they can spam their product to a large audience.
  - fooker 4y ago
    The point is you can't do this with any kind of scale needed to swamp users, which is a real fear with autogenerated text nowadays.
  - Arrath 4y ago
    >$8/mo is the price range that attracts scammers and hustlers Don't forget about the trolls!
- jml7c5 4y ago
  I think Musk never quite understood how other people perceive a blue tick. In his own experience on Twitter, he probably noticed that verified users were made more visible in his replies, feed, etc., and he seems to think that that is the primary benefit.
- Pxtl 4y ago
  I think he's underestimating the damage he's doing to the site. Every respectable person is looking for the exit, it's just that the Twitter moat is very high. But it's not limitless. If any twitter alternative like Mastodon or Notes or BlueSky or whatever gets real traction, Twitter is going the way of Digg.
Pxtl 4y ago
But the trick is that the badge also gives you preferential positioning in replies and search, so that for dedicated hobbyist trolls, it allows their comments to bubble to the top. And the worst reply-guys on twitter love this. As a result, viewing the replies of any moderately progressive tweeter yields a heap of blue-check abuse as the first glance. So basically, the twitter stereotype of "Hello my name is firstname bunchanumbes and I have some really shitty opinions" is now bluecheck-boosted.
- joegahona 4y ago
  The "preferential positioning" seems to be just a belief at this point. Anecdotally I've seen far more people saying they've seen no difference in Tweet engagement since subscribing. But I agree with you -- it's the belief they'll get preferential positioning that crypto grifters, SEO lunatics, and marketing slimeballs are banking on. Personas of people who would buy Blue at this point fall into a few buckets: • The aforementioned group of users hoping for preferential positioning • People who simply want to show support for Elon/Twitter by paying • People who are desperate for a blue check, to feel important • People who find value in the features of Twitter Blue (which, if we're honest, are meager) Lots of overlap in these -- e.g., I think people who are desperate for a blue check are claiming to be subscribed because of the Twitter Blue features -- a modern take on "I read Playboy for the articles."
  - mgiannopoulos 4y ago
    This happened today: “Verified accounts are now prioritized” - https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1650731557164818437?s=20 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1650731557164818437?s=20 It has been kind of crazy to see people be mad that their “for you” feed was filled with promoted “blue checks” when no such change had been done yet.
    - Pxtl 4y ago
      It was very obviously happening in replies, which is different from "For You". The reply system had a different sorting algorithm that AFAIK prioritized verified accounts even before Elon came along. It was very visible now that the "pay for verify" system was available where you'd have a viral tweet with a solid wall of verified replies for pages before you'd see the far-more-popular unverified replies. The quality hit was bad enough I wouldn't be surprised if Twitter is quietly turning down the weighting of Verified in replies, because it's so extreme.

birdyrooster 4y ago

My understanding is Elon never cared about the institution of a blue check mark and is taking them for a nice infusion of cash with the intention of phasing it out.

hgsgm 4y ago
If he's that desperate for money why would he phase it out?
- birdyrooster 4y ago
  This over-exploitation is a clear fulcrum for the failure of the platform and could undermine a future payday.
- Pxtl 4y ago
  This is enshittification - pillage the brand for short-term gain, long-term loss, thinking that something is worth more dead than alive. Either Musk is trying to pillage the bluecheck system (he thinks its' worthless and wants to extract some value before he kills it), or Twitter itself (get some short-term revenue from blue-check-chuds so he can make the site look slightly more profitable so he can sell it off).
rchaud 4y ago
But at $8/mo? Celebrities and influencers can afford way more than that. $8/mo is the price range that attracts scammers and hustlers that care about showing up in the first 5 replies of a major tweet so they can spam their product to a large audience.
- fooker 4y ago
  The point is you can't do this with any kind of scale needed to swamp users, which is a real fear with autogenerated text nowadays.
- Arrath 4y ago
  >$8/mo is the price range that attracts scammers and hustlers Don't forget about the trolls!
jml7c5 4y ago
I think Musk never quite understood how other people perceive a blue tick. In his own experience on Twitter, he probably noticed that verified users were made more visible in his replies, feed, etc., and he seems to think that that is the primary benefit.
Pxtl 4y ago
I think he's underestimating the damage he's doing to the site. Every respectable person is looking for the exit, it's just that the Twitter moat is very high. But it's not limitless. If any twitter alternative like Mastodon or Notes or BlueSky or whatever gets real traction, Twitter is going the way of Digg.

Pxtl 4y ago

But the trick is that the badge also gives you preferential positioning in replies and search, so that for dedicated hobbyist trolls, it allows their comments to bubble to the top. And the worst reply-guys on twitter love this. As a result, viewing the replies of any moderately progressive tweeter yields a heap of blue-check abuse as the first glance. So basically, the twitter stereotype of "Hello my name is firstname bunchanumbes and I have some really shitty opinions" is now bluecheck-boosted.

joegahona 4y ago
The "preferential positioning" seems to be just a belief at this point. Anecdotally I've seen far more people saying they've seen no difference in Tweet engagement since subscribing. But I agree with you -- it's the belief they'll get preferential positioning that crypto grifters, SEO lunatics, and marketing slimeballs are banking on. Personas of people who would buy Blue at this point fall into a few buckets: • The aforementioned group of users hoping for preferential positioning • People who simply want to show support for Elon/Twitter by paying • People who are desperate for a blue check, to feel important • People who find value in the features of Twitter Blue (which, if we're honest, are meager) Lots of overlap in these -- e.g., I think people who are desperate for a blue check are claiming to be subscribed because of the Twitter Blue features -- a modern take on "I read Playboy for the articles."
- mgiannopoulos 4y ago
  This happened today: “Verified accounts are now prioritized” - https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1650731557164818437?s=20 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1650731557164818437?s=20 It has been kind of crazy to see people be mad that their “for you” feed was filled with promoted “blue checks” when no such change had been done yet.
  - Pxtl 4y ago
    It was very obviously happening in replies, which is different from "For You". The reply system had a different sorting algorithm that AFAIK prioritized verified accounts even before Elon came along. It was very visible now that the "pay for verify" system was available where you'd have a viral tweet with a solid wall of verified replies for pages before you'd see the far-more-popular unverified replies. The quality hit was bad enough I wouldn't be surprised if Twitter is quietly turning down the weighting of Verified in replies, because it's so extreme.